Aptitude Test (1)
As expected from a romance fantasy geared toward women.
The entrance ceremony at the Imperial Central Noble Academy was a grand three-day feast.
The first day involved moving into the dorms, followed by a ball and social gathering. That was yesterday.
The second day was for the aptitude test. Based on the results, you'd choose your department.
Given the nature of a noble academy, which department you entered had a huge impact on your future connections, making the second day the most important in practice.
The third day was the standard entrance ceremony we all know—speeches from the professors, talk about the academy curriculum, and finally, the club promotion festival.
Of course, clubs weren't mandatory, so I planned to join the go-home club without a second thought.
"Please come forward when your name is called."
Anyway, today was aptitude test day.
The noble academy didn't have a separate entrance exam. Because of the setting where all nobles had to attend no matter what, they used the aptitude test to filter instead.
The most popular departments were the big three: magic, swordsmanship, and politics.
If my memory was right, Maria would go into magic, the crown prince into politics, and my fake fiancée Elia Adventus into politics too. Alley Justinia and her villainess posse would head to magic.
Kael and Hydele Grace would end up in swordsmanship. And though she hadn't been mentioned yet, Maria's top canon love interest and the hero's descendant would also join magic later on.
That is, if things followed the original plot.
I had no intention of going into swordsmanship, though.
There were a few fringe departments too.
Fringe departments weren't popular with students, which meant no major characters—and thus no pointless incidents.
Plus, since the academy had tons of common classes that everyone took together regardless of department, I wouldn't miss out on normalizing the key players.
The main fringe ones were arts, clerical studies, alchemy, and medicine.
Arts could never go mainstream structurally, clerical studies was basically a downgrade from politics.
Alchemy was a sub-par version of magic, and medicine was mostly for kids from medical families anyway, so spots were essentially pre-allocated.
Out of those, I was leaning toward...
"Student Kael Lotus. Please proceed to the comprehensive measurement room."
First things first—finish the aptitude test and think later.
I headed to the measurement room, where various examiners sat waiting.
"Kael Lotus. Fill out the aptitude test form, then proceed in order to swordsmanship measurement, magic measurement, and intelligence measurement."
The test form was just a formality. Stuff like "Do you know 300 types of locusts?" or "Any suicidal thoughts?"—check the normal answers and move on quick.
Once I finished the form, the examiners guided me to the swordsmanship measurement room.
A few key characters were already there, waiting their turn.
"..."
"So you're the one? The infamous wastrel."
"Tch... Rude from the jump."
The grand duchess and main villainess of the story, Alley Justinia.
She just happened to be sitting right next to me in the waiting area.
I'd seen her once before, but from her perspective, this was our first meeting.
"Oh, sorry. That said... you're way more handsome than the rumors suggested."
I let Alley's words go in one ear and out the other.
One thing I couldn't forget: she was a male-basher. A character designed to get endlessly trashed and attacked in a female-dominated space.
What that meant was she flirted with every single original male lead.
Ironically, she tormented Maria out of jealousy because she loved Crown Prince Lucas Deverlu too much.
That dual nature, packed with desire, cemented her as the perfect unlikeable character.
"You're just stating facts everyone knows."
Of course, I had zero interest or reason to play along.
Still, she was somewhat necessary for normalizing the original plot. Keeping the door open for talk couldn't hurt.
"Alley Justinia. Youngest daughter of the Justinia Grand Duke family. Fiancée of Crown Prince Lucas Deverlu."
"That's me."
"Here's some advice for you too: if you wanna win over the guys you're after, don't act like that."
"What do you mean?"
I smirked at her question and answered.
"Lucas Deverlu? That guy's into plain and simple. He's been surrounded by flashy stuff his whole life, so someone like Maria Frendis comes off as mysterious. Oh, and one more thing—ditch that strong-weak-strong personality of yours. For real, Alley."
"What are you... His Highness and I love each other. You're the rude one here for a first meeting. This borders on lese-majeste. And Maria Frendis? That bitch has no place between us."
"You know we're students now, right? Whatever, ignore me if you want. I was just giving you sincere advice, Alley."
True story.
I genuinely hoped Alley Justinia wouldn't go full villainess. That way, major players like the crown prince and Hydele Grace would pay less attention to Maria.
It was all about contrast. The deeper the shadow, the brighter the light. That dramatic opposition made Maria stand out more to the other male leads.
"Student Alley Justinia. Swordsmanship measurement room."
"I'll be watching, wastrel."
"Get lost."
I shooed her off with a wave.
About ten minutes after she went in, my name was called.
"You can forfeit the swordsmanship measurement. Would you like to?"
The moment I entered the swordsmanship measurement room, one examiner straight-up offered me the out.
Made sense—most nobles with zero sword background just skipped it. In a dignity-obsessed noble society, why risk looking bad by forcing it? Better to elegantly decline.
"Nah, let's do it."
Swordsmanship measurement had two formats.
One: slash a stationary striking dummy with a real sword and get scored on power and form accuracy.
Two: spar with an instructor using wooden swords.
You could pick one or do both if you wanted.
In my case...
"Nothing more to see? Sparring it is."
I jumped straight into sparring.
Naturally, most nobles avoided sparring too. In a face-saving noble world, it was basically a guaranteed loss—no one liked that.
But I was dead serious about winning, so I chose it.
Legend had it no student in academy history had ever beaten an instructor at this stage.
If you could, you should've been the instructor.
"I heard you chose sparring. Thought this semester had no bold ones, but looks like we've got one."
The instructor handed me a wooden sword, chuckling heartily.
A middle-aged guy with long seagull whiskers and a side-part—looked like he'd wield some refined rapier.
Of course, all wooden swords were uniform in size and shape, so we'd see once blades crossed.
"Let's get this over with."
"Attack first, and we'll start then."
Acting all relaxed 'cause I'm a student, huh...
The words barely left his mouth before I charged.
I swung the wooden sword wide on purpose. Had to show the full arc.
Thwack!
Predictably, the big telegraphed swing got blocked easy.
"Too much motion. Bold, but you've got a lot to learn."
The old man chuckled in my face.
I kept pouring on combo after combo at the smug geezer. But none landed clean.
Then a sly grin crept across my lips.
"Hup...!"
In a flash, I dropped low and hooked his leg.
The old man leaped to avoid the trip, and I pounced on that moment.
All those inefficient combos before? A feint. Now I funneled everything into one precise point with minimal movement.
Surprise flickered on the airborne instructor's face.
"So relaxed..."
Crack!
No wonder he's an instructor. Even mid-air, he adjusted and parried my thrust.
But I'd seen that coming.
This past year, I'd cut down monsters, bandits, people, black market scum—anything that moved.
Combat was the fuel that kept me going through those dopamine-starved days.
Pair that with Kael Lotus's once-in-a-generation genius talent, and my growth was insane.
"What power...!"
"Old man. Don't sleep on a student."
Compounding it: he'd yielded first strike and held back 'cause I was a "student." Fatal mistake.
A little more aggressive blade work, and he'd have realized I wasn't just some gutsy kid.
Eh, I'd have won anyway.
Crunch!
My real target was his sword from the start.
The old man's wooden sword shattered against mine.
Wood on wood: whoever loads more force into the clash wins. I'd hammered his mid-blade with my tip—couldn't hold.
The instructor quickly backed off.
"Well... I lose."
Sparring victory: mine.
Swordsmanship measurement: top marks, naturally.
Finally, the instructor approached with a pleased smile, offering a handshake.
"A prodigy through and through. A once-in-a-millennium genius for sure. See you in the department, student."
"What're you on about? I'm going arts."
"Pardon?"
I'd only sparred 'cause it sounded fun.
Never planned on swordsmanship in the first place.